Dean Smith

[villalad21]

32 minutes ago, Nigel said:

That's our forte....oh wait......

I think they will score 2 goals but i think we will score more

[A'Villan]

Averages under Smith are impressive. 2.4 goals per game. 16.8 shots per game. 60% possession. Over 80% pass completion. The opposition have doubled our foul count in every fixture except Norwich, which they still had more fouls than us. We are the number one team for shots per game, possession and pass completion averages under Smith.

[mjmooney]

35 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

Averages under Smith are impressive. 2.4 goals per game. 16.8 shots per game. 60% possession. Over 80% pass completion. The opposition have doubled our foul count in every fixture except Norwich, which they still had more fouls than us. We are the number one team for shots per game, possession and pass completion averages under Smith.

Those stats are truly incredible. I expected a slow but steady improvement after Smith took over from Bruce, but I don't think even the most optimistic of us could have predicted both the magnitude and the speed of the turnaround. That is SO much more than a simple 'new manager bounce'. 

[A'Villan]

41 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Those stats are truly incredible. I expected a slow but steady improvement after Smith took over from Bruce, but I don't think even the most optimistic of us could have predicted both the magnitude and the speed of the turnaround. That is SO much more than a simple 'new manager bounce'. 

Absolutely.

We are also averaging 2 points per game under Smith. No team in the division except Norwich are doing that. So by all means we are playing like a team that belongs in the top 2.

[choffer]

18 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

When asked why he wanted us to continue on the front foot after scoring 2 goals, he said, " that's how I like my teams to play, it can be dangerous in this league to sit back and try and protect what you've got, it's just inviting the opposition ".

What a contrast to previous incumbents. I'm so impressed with how he has handled the expectation. This isn't just a job, it's his vocation . His joy as been infectious and the feel  good factor has returned from a deep, deep, slumber.

I remember Gabby saying that McLeish's final instruction to him was often "make sure we don't concede". When you think of the dross we've been served up in the past few years, Smith's such a breath of fresh air.

[TRO]

I have been blown away with the speed of the transformation.

I thought he would improve us, but not this quick and in such a dramatic manner.

long may it continue.

[Dave-R]

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

I think they will score 2 goals but i think we will score more

So it's a 10-2 scoreline, could imagine the humiliation, wouldn't hear from a baggie ever again, can only dream..

I think our lads should treat the game like it is a derby, we mite put a ton past them as our players would be psyched for it.

[Dave-R]

2 hours ago, A'Villan said:

Averages under Smith are impressive. 2.4 goals per game. 16.8 shots per game. 60% possession. Over 80% pass completion. The opposition have doubled our foul count in every fixture except Norwich, which they still had more fouls than us. We are the number one team for shots per game, possession and pass completion averages under Smith.

We must also be the most fouled team in the championship, surely Jack Grealish wins that alone for our team.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Dave-R

[Dave-R]

2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Those stats are truly incredible. I expected a slow but steady improvement after Smith took over from Bruce, but I don't think even the most optimistic of us could have predicted both the magnitude and the speed of the turnaround. That is SO much more than a simple 'new manager bounce'. 

He certainly looks a premiere quality manager in how he's conducted himself, pulled the pants down on teams and how he's come in and breathed life back into our team/players.

Dean smith made bruce look like a complete fool, come to think of it around 20 years of our managers now look like a joke, we have been neglected bad.

[Dave-R]

53 minutes ago, TRO said:

I have been blown away with the speed of the transformation.

I thought he would improve us, but not this quick and in such a dramatic manner.

long may it continue.

Am dieing to see Dean Smith's premiere capabilities. I'm thinking there's going to be some upsets in the premiere and that they will be saying look what's returned from the grave- it's Aston villa with vengeance. 

Because everyone counted our club down and out, they must all see the revival happening, I think Dean Smith has brought the stench if FEAR with him, because it's starting to look like teams are dreading us again.

[lapal_fan]

I think it's relatively simple, in the process behind the rapid improvement;

He's given the players the believe and freedom to go and win games. 

Bruce was very risk averse.  At times it was almost like when we scored, we'd let the opponents attack us, in the hope we could counter them and win by a bigger margin.  Under Smith, it appears that when we score, he wants us to score again.

His most defensive tactic is to bring Whealan on the 80th if we have a good lead. 

He said when he came in that he was very impressed by the technical ability of the players, and he's using players to their strengths - hence why Taylor is playing at left back at the minute. 

We were must more rigid under Bruce, we are fluid under Smith. 

Let's hope he (we) can keep up the good form! 

[Tomaszk]

4 hours ago, A'Villan said:

Averages under Smith are impressive. 2.4 goals per game. 16.8 shots per game. 60% possession. Over 80% pass completion.

So so good.

[mjmooney]

35 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

His most defensive tactic is to bring Whelan on the 80th if we have a good lead. 

And even he goes forward looking to score. 

[bannedfromHandV]

12 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

And even he goes forward looking to score. 

Indeed he did score, with a little assistance from the keeper it should be said.

 

I'm finding it really tough not to get completely carried away right now. To think, we'll probably get even better as the season progresses too (more time under Smith plus one or two incomings in January).

 

I feel like we're witnessing the start of something amazing, please please please football gods, don't let this one be a false dawn too. 

[TheMelvillan]

kinda makes you wonder what players we have let go/ got rid of in the last few years that would have been much better under this manager. Guys like Gil, Bannan, Veretout etc. were forced to play terrible football under terrible managers and coaches, and we got rid of them as they didnt seem good enough. Playing under Smith may have got much more out of them

[Stevo985]

The danger with a manager who comes in and just gives players the freedom to play is eventually a lack of discipline (tactically) means the performances drop and so do results.

It's why managers like Sherwood and Pardew get good results early on. They usually follow a more disciplined or more dull manager and the taking off of the leash gets some great performances and results out of the players. But they're not tactically good enough to address the slide once that early buzz wears off.

 

Now I'm not expecting Smith to suffer the same problem. I think he's got much more about him than that.
But that will be the true test. If we get the other side of Christmas still playing like this then we're laughing.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Stevo985

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

The danger with a manager who comes in and just gives players the freedom to play is eventually a lack of discipline (tactically) means the performances drop and so do results.

It's why managers like Sherwood and Pardew get good results early on. They usually follow a more disciplined or more dull manager and the taking off of the leash gets some great performances and results out of the players.

Now I'm not expecting Smith to suffer the same problem. I think he's got much more about him than that.
But that will be the true test. If we get the other side of Christmas still playing like this then we're laughing.

I agree.

Hopefully Smith and Villa's form will continue because you can see there is a system in place. It's a bloody attacking system, but there's one there, and the players stick to it.

[osmark86]

When the inevitable poor period does come it'll be interesting to see how that gets addressed. like many on here though I am quite confident that DS is the real deal and will know how to deal with these situations as I'm sure he's had to do before albeit with lesser squads.

[Stevo985]

4 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I agree.

Hopefully Smith and Villa's form will continue because you can see there is a system in place. It's a bloody attacking system, but there's one there, and the players stick to it.

Absolutely.

It's exactly what we were all crying out for Bruce to do this season.

We have differing opinions of how bad Bruce was, but I think everyone agreed that this season we didn't have the squad to play to bruce's strengths (which is his fault). If you have a top heavy squad then you HAVE to attack. It's the only way it will work.
Bruce was still trying to build from the back.

It's like having a car with a poor top speed but amazing handling and then choosing the Indianapolis Speedway to have a race on.

Smith has come in and realised this and set us up to play to our strengths. It leaves us leaky at the back but it works most of the time.

[omariqy]

We will have a dip at some stage. As fans we need to stick with Smith because this is a massive change in philiosphy and although it seems we are having overnight success, it may not turn out that way as the season pans out. However, it is 100% the right way to go and with the players we have then we have a massive chance to achieve something this season.